VisitLondon reviews tack in the light of bombings

VisitLondon is reviewing its marketing strategy to attract visitors back to the capital after last week’s bombings.

Marketers at the tourism body, which is responsible for promoting the capital in the UK and abroad, have been meeting industry partners to formulate a response to an expected downturn in business as a result of the attacks.

VisitLondon’s advertising agencies, Rainey Kelly Campbell Roalfe/Y&R and Publicis, have been kept informed, although no decisions on campaigns have yet been made. Marketing director Martine Ainsworth-Wells says there have also been discussions with companies such as Eurostar and BA.

“We are talking about these companies’ plans in terms of media and advertising,” she says. The body has an annual media plan-ning and buying spend of about &£10m.

Ainsworth-Wells adds that VisitLondon is monitoring the effect the bombings have had on sectors such as attractions, theatre bookings, retail and hotels, in order to ascertain which areas are suffering the most and to develop a strategy to combat this.

She adds that the organisation might appeal to non-core markets, for instance by targeting the domestic market to plug the gap left by any decline in overseas visitors.

No extra money has so far been allocated by the London Development Agency, which funds VisitLondon’s marketing activities.